''The net is closing around doping,'' race director Jean-Marie Leblanc said Friday. ''We will apply sanctions where needed, even if it is in a few weeks. Total severity will be shown to those who cheat -- and not only to riders, but also if syringes are found in team cars or hotel rooms.''

Leblanc said cyclists will provide urine samples during the race, even though a test for the performance-enhancing hormone erythropoietin (EPO) hasn't been approved yet. The samples will be used once the test gets the green light -- which could be as far off as two or three months.

Anybody breaking the rules would be ''playing with fire,'' he warned in an address to the 180 entrants.

EPO, which boosts the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells, was at the heart of the 1998 scandal, which erupted when French customs officials caught a Festina team employee with a stash of EPO and anabolic steroids in his car.

Tour organizers expelled Festina after the team admitted to systematic drug use. French authorities raided team hotels as cyclists slept between stages. Riders staged a sit-down and six teams withdrew in protest.

Last year's race was plagued by innuendo about drug use, though Lance Armstrong's inspiring victory just three years after being diagnosed with cancer helped lift the clouds that hung over the 1998 edition.

Leblanc is still clearly haunted by that fiasco.

''The Tour de France is a monument to cycling,'' he said. ''Our duty is to protect it and we will do so without weakness. Cycling now needs a Tour de France to go ahead in the best fashion. The credibility of the sport is at stake starting Saturday and over the next three weeks.

''We were nearly swept away by the 1998 storm.''

Armstrong said he believes cycling is unfairly singled out for drug abuse.

''I'm really sick of the myth of widespread doping,'' Armstrong said. ''Drug abuse has existed in all sports and I get upset when people say it's a cycling issue.''

Leblanc told the racers: ''Cycling has done more than any other sport to fight doping. In return, we are giving you the chance to take part in the most famous of all cycling events, with nearly 15 million francs ($22.5 million) in prize money.''